


In the Beyond

by jeejaschocolate



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Complicated Relationships, Feelings, M/M, Prompt Fill, Protectiveness, Slight Canon Divergence, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-07 21:03:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12240555
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeejaschocolate/pseuds/jeejaschocolate
Summary: Ardyn saw Noctis being sucked into the Crystal. He just couldn’t let it happen again.(Fill for Ardynoct week Day 2 - Protectiveness)





	In the Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 2 [Ardynoct Week on Tumblr!](https://ardynoctweek.tumblr.com/) A fill for the "protectiveness" prompt. This prompt spoke to me, right in the feels, and I had to write my favorite alternate head canon. Every time I watch that stupid scene where Noctis gets pulled into the Crystal this is what goes through my head.
> 
> Stupid fangirl heart... T__T

“Killing you now would give me scant satisfaction…” Ardyn droned on and on, watching the young prince of light twisting futilely against the Crystal’s bonds. 

How many times had he rehearsed this very speech? Uncountable, truly. Ardyn had been waiting to say this to Noctis for years upon years. He wanted the prince to know that he had been waiting to kill him. He wanted Noctis to know why Ardyn was letting him live right now. He wanted him to know that this was only temporary—until the Crystal gave its blessing and Noctis ascended into the Chosen One he was meant to be. That’s what Ardyn was waiting for: The satisfaction of killing the Astral’s favorite. Their blessed. Their plaything. Their Special One. Their…

Ardyn had been their favorite. Once upon a time. So, so long ago now. In the ancient times. He’d been the man who was supposed to ascend to the first throne. The first king. The healer king—an incongruous mix of Oracle and King for the people to hail as their savior. Right up until the Starscourge infected him. Tainted him. Turned him into something no one would want, least of all the Astrals, who prided themselves in their purity.

Bahamut’s judgmental gaze had cast him from the Beyond. Sentenced him to a life of unending haze. The pain of his mortal life hardly mattered now. The only thing that mattered was this, this very moment, watching Noctis fall into the Crystal and face the Draconian for himself.

Ardyn wished he could be there to see it happen. Noctis, dwarfed by the ridiculous might of the Draconian. Standing trial for a life he’d never asked for. Forced to act out the Astral’s twisted sense of destiny. A puppet.

“How does it feel, Noct…” Ardyn whispered, stepping closer to Noctis to look directly into the young man’s face. Stare into those blue eyes alive with panic and hatred and frustration. 

Beautiful eyes. Ardyn almost said it aloud before he remembered himself.

Instead, he kept going with his pointless monologue. “How does it feel to bear the weight of the Astrals. To feel their bonds chafe. To know that you are at their very whim, even now. As we speak. And as your friends die upstairs.”

Noctis grunted, trying to free himself. “What…the fuck…are you talking about?” 

Ardyn chuckled. He touched the side of Noctis’s face. Mostly just to watch the repulsion flickering across the boy's pristine features. Noctis recoiled in disgust, pulling the most amusing face. He knew that the man he hated more than anything was touching him. The scum of the earth.

But then, his eyes. The prismatic blue echoed the light of the Crystal and Ardyn lost track of his words.

Those eyes were pleading with him. Begging for something. 

The glaciers surrounding Ardyn’s heart melted. Just a fraction. The smallest bit. This boy….this boy thought Ardyn could save him. He was counting on it, practically asking for help with his own voice! Because what else did Noctis have anymore? Kingdom in ruin. Betrothed already dead. Separated from his friends. The very light of day snuffed out before him.

Noctis had nothing now. 

…Except for Ardyn.

“Hmmm…can’t you feel it?” Ardyn’s face twisted into a satisfied grin. He stepped backwards. “Their plans coming to fruition? This is what they’ve wanted all along. You, in their grasp. In their filthy hands to do with as they please…”

So true! The Astrals were moments away from wrecking Noctis’s life so thoroughly the young man would never be able to put the pieces back together. They would pass their judgement, deeming Noctis worthy but needing “time” or something. Time. Something a young man like Noctis had never fully considered before. Something he probably thought he had a lot of, being only twenty years old. But, as he would soon see, time and mortal life mattered not at all to the Astrals.

They were about to destroy him. To tear him away from everything he held dear.

A pinprick of anger pierced Ardyn’s blood. It scorched through his veins and he stopped. 

They were about to destroy Noctis. 

“Hmph.” Ardyn’s face turned dark. Now, Noctis was consumed up to his chest. No longer able to squirm. 

How dare they…

It was Ardyn who had made sure that Noctis even made it this far! Had it been up to the Astrals, Noctis probably would have died in an earthquake back when he communed with the Archaeon. Or else drowned in a tsunami in Altissia. Fuck, he might still be stuck in Galdin Quay if Ardyn hadn't given him that first piece of advice at the onset of his journey!

Who did the Astrals think they were, taking Noctis from him at the very end…

Especially to pass their capricious judgement! They had no right! Not after everything Ardyn had done to deliver Noctis this far in one piece, sound and healthy (enough). 

Those bastards. They were going to take Noctis too, weren’t they? Render the prince a shadow of his former self, a dark vision. A man thirsty for his own demise. The same thing they had turned Ardyn into.

Fuck them.

Ardyn growled as he saw Noctis face slowly disappear into the Crystal. He could hear the three friends running to meet them. It was all almost over…almost time for the world to fall into night…for Noctis to meet the Draconian.

No. Steel plated hatred and deep rage solidified inside Ardyn. He just couldn’t see it happen.

Not to Noctis. Not the boy whose face was too pure for this world. Whose heart beat solely to see his friends survive. Who wanted to sleep and drift through life like a leaf in the breeze. Damn it all, Noctis deserved a life like that. Ardyn had watched him float through this pointless road trip of his…

…and loved every moment. The simple joys. Small trials, small triumphs. Big smiles. 

Ardyn wanted Noctis to have that life. The life he had been denied, a life the Astrals had no right disturbing.

Hell, even if he had to fight Bahamut to the death he would make sure that Noctis did not need to suffer the same way.

Only one tiny crack remained in the seam of the Crystal. Ardyn stuck his fingers inside. He felt the inexorable pull of the Beyond sucking him in as a matter of course.

Determination filled his heart. He would stand between the Draconian and Noctis. He would make sure no harm befell the prince. Even if it meant every part Ardyn turned to ash in return.

He had to.

And that was pretty ironic.

Laughing at himself, Ardyn fell into the Crystal beside Noctis. He would await him in the Beyond.

**Author's Note:**

> Hit me up [on tumblr!](https://jeejascoffee.tumblr.com/)


End file.
